Today I was chatting to the lovely staff at The Helios Centre in London about who wants to come to therapy on a Friday and, especially on a Friday night. This topic arose in response to a poster I had taken in to the Centre to advertise a new therapy group that I am starting there. The conclusion about Fridays was that the majority of the population associate the last working day of the week as a day when people just want to go home or down the pub, or get away for the weekend.

However, Friday night can also be a time of reflection and a time to evaluate the week just gone and consider the week ahead. Although it can be counterintuitive when all we want to do is leave the week in the past, we can help lessen this need or desire to escape by actively staying present in the here-and-now and embracing what is going on for us instead of running away from it. One of my clients that I see in London says that she likes coming to therapy on a Friday - early evening - as she likes to explore what she did well during her week, what she would like to have done differently, and what she might need to work on regarding self-care over the weekend so that she can be ready for the week ahead. How do you think that you might benefit from taking an hour's reflection on a Friday night rather than charging full steam ahead into the weekend?

The therapy group at the Helios Centre will run fortnightly 7-8.30pm every 2nd and 4th Friday of the month. If you're in this area (116 Judd St, Kings Cross, London WC1H 9NS) and wondering if you'd like to join, I would encourage you to think about this group as an opportunity to do your weekends differently. If, for example, you go down the pub every Friday night and usually drink to excess so that your weekends are ruined, why not come try out the group instead? It would be cheaper than a Friday night in London and you could, not only learn how to relate to others without the need for Dutch courage, but you'd also wake up without a hangover and be able to enjoy your weekend with renewed vigour. If you are single and don't want to be but are wondering why your relationships always go wrong, it could be of real benefit to you to explore your 'self' in relation to others and understand your impact on others. Relational forms of therapy can be usefully seen as a microcosm of clients' worlds as the dynamics in the therapeutic relationship are often repeated in other significant relationship. In group therapy, this also means that how you relate to others in the group will reflect how you relate to people more generally. Such a group can be an opportunity to ask for feedback about how people experience you. When do we ever get to receive open and honest feedback about how people experience us? Very rarely - it's so valuable.

Group therapy at the Helios Centre costs only £45 per session and concessions are available.

Email me if you are interested in joining the therapy group starting at the Helios Centre after Easter and I look forward to meeting you very soon...